Rowie's Bakery--Filipino Sweets

I have enjoyed my two recent trips to Rowie's, and so thought it deserved a dedicated thread. Tipped off by this post, my Filipino-American fiancee and I trekked from the south side way up Lincoln Avenue in search of some hard-to-find treats. Rowie's largely serves both traditional and modern Filipino takes on sweets, but have some regular cupcakes and cakes as well. We went for the hard-to-find items and flavors, things that we haven't seen elsewhere in Chicago.

We were quite pleased with what we got, particularly the macarons:


From top to bottom: Ube/taro, mango, buko pandan/coconutty, and one pistachio.

All four flavors were pretty fresh, letting out a slight gust of air when you bit into them. Additionally, the flavor of each of the unusual ingredients came through nicely, with the ube and the buko pandan being my favorites.

Also pictured are an ube cakeroll, which was nice and light, but a bit lighter on the flavor, and mamon, which is plain ol' spongecake.

Next up came brazo de mercedes and sans rival. I'd never had either, and while the brazo de mercedes was fine (at left below, a light, airy meringue with some coconut custard), I much preferred the sans rival, which features a nice cream sandwiched about crisp meringue cake layers with a cashew punch. A really fine dessert.



We also tried some sylvannas and cupcakes. Sylvannas use a similar 'cake' as the sans rival, and are coated with a lightly flavored powder--we got mango. The mango wasn't particularly prominent, but the advantage of sylvannas over sans rival is the ability to eat it by hand. They are especially good after some time in the freezer, apparently. Ours didn't last that long. The cupcakes (ube and buko pandan) were top notch, especially if you are into those flavors (which, of course, I am!).



Inside a sylvanna:


Not pictured, as it was consumed immediately, is the Filipino-style empanada. These skew sweet, and are apparently a breakfast item of sorts. It was fine, a light treat, but nothing too aggressively flavored.

All in all, we generally enjoyed everything--except maybe the coffee, I'd pass on that. We first went perhaps three weeks ago, and already drove back up north for another round of sans rivals and macarons. Prices are low--1.49 per macaron, I believe, and we have been pleased with the freshness of these so far. My LDC was transported back to her youth, and I was happy to be introduced to some really unique desserts. We will most certainly return.

5664 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
(888) 769-4372

Thanks mtgl for noticing my post in the macarons thread . . . I was worried it might get lost there so I'm glad you started a new thread. And thanks for the lengthy write-up. I look forward to trying more of their offerings.

Here's a linke to Rowie's website: Rowie's Bakery

Hours:
Sunday: 10am - 8pm
Monday: closed
Tuesday & Wednesday: 10am to 7pm
Thurs through Saturday: 10am - 9pm

Notice that they're conveniently located across the street from Angry Crab.

BR wrote:Thanks mtgl for noticing my post in the macarons thread . . . I was worried it might get lost there so I'm glad you started a new thread.

I noticed as well and stopped for some macarons. I did not try any of the other offerings, but I quite enjoyed the macarons. Were they the best I've ever had, no, my inner macaron dialog was "not sophisticated" but at $1.42 per with some fun flavors like ube and pandan, plus a friendly interactive counterperson, I'm heading back soon.

Rowie's Bakery
5664 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
orders@rowiesbakery.com
888-769-4372